


Zero Chemistry

by onlyhereforellick



Category: NCIS
Genre: F/M, post ep 17x07
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-18
Updated: 2019-11-18
Packaged: 2021-02-08 08:29:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,135
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21473053
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/onlyhereforellick/pseuds/onlyhereforellick
Summary: Nick’s heart exploded as he wasted no time giving the woman he loved what she wanted. And he’d happily do that over and over again if it meant kissing Eleanor Bishop for the rest of his life.
Relationships: Ellie Bishop/Nick Torres
Comments: 6
Kudos: 90





	Zero Chemistry

**Author's Note:**

> post ep because I had to address Jimmy’s nonsense
> 
> honestly probably not my best work, i got busy after starting it so I lost the zone 😔

Ellie’s phone dinged for easily the fifteenth time in the last hour, the sound echoing off the metal down in autopsy. Jimmy was droning I’m about some weird story very tangentially related to their case, yet Nick didn’t hear a single word. His ears were ringing as he witnessed Ellie’s eyes flit down to her screen, a smile burst across her face before she could stop it. He saw the moment she tried to hold it back, bite her bottom lip as if that could contain it. Her fingers flew across the screen, presumably firing off a witty reply if the gleam in her eye was any indication. He thought that spark was saved for him, and him alone. Apparently he was wrong.

They’d move past their awkwardness a few weeks ago, gone back to their friendly routine, but there was something just slightly off. He couldn’t quite put his finger to it, but Ellie seemed almost more reserved than before. Granted, Nick couldn’t blame her, he’d called her his grandma basically. It was like pouring a bucket of ice cold water on any kind of percolating flirtation.

That didn’t stop him from inwardly cringing and outwardly stiffening every time her phone dinged..._again_ and he saw her face light up like it used to do with him.

Nick was sure his face depicted that of a stone cold statue, as he tried in vain to pay attention to Jimmy. For the now twentieth time, Ellie’s phone dinged and she whipped it out of her back pocket already smiling before she could have possibly read the text. That was the last straw for Nick, he snapped.

“Might as well call them, it’ll be quicker anyways.” His posture rigid and the bite in his tone barely disguised. Not done though, he murmured under his breath, “And less distracting to those of us who’d like to work.”

Ellie’s eyes snapped to Nick and her jaw dropped slightly; Nick could tell she’d heard every word. In the moment, he didn’t care.

Thankfully Jimmy piped up before Nick could say something even stupider. “You have been smiling pretty big over there... gotta a hot date tonight, Bishop?”

Nick knew Jimmy had been joking, but the pink that now spotted Ellie’s cheeks told a very different story. Nick tried to ignore the heat that rushed through him, igniting every nerve ending, causing his vision to blur ever so slightly.  _Please don’t let it be..._

“Oooh is Richard back? I thought he was back at Pendleton,” Jimmy probed because he lacked social cues apparently. 

Ellie’s eyes darted back and forth from Nick to Jimmy before settling on Jimmy as she nodded her confirmation. A small, tentative voice followed, “He uh- he came back for a long weekend, to uh- to see me.”

That green fire within Nick exploded. It took every ounce of strength he possessed to not let out his inner caveman, especially when all he wanted to do was growl, throw Ellie over his shoulder, and lock her up tight with  _him_, not Richard.

He missed Jimmy’s reply, but refocused when Ellie finally turned to address him. Her look was teasing, but with a touch of hesitation—almost like she was waiting for something from Nick. Her eyes searched his for a second before she went on, “No overprotective big brother routine this time, okay?”

There was an emotion in her eyes that Nick couldn’t name, he wanted to call it regret but that still didn’t quite cover it. The raging fire transformed to a focal stabbing white hot burn, right in his chest. As if he was being stabbed in the heart with an iron straight from the blacksmith’s fire. Hearing her parrot his words back to him, it killed him. This- this was his fault. He ran her away, and now he got to endure the fallout. And he had no one to blame but his cowardly self.

Nick just nodded in response, the lump that had formed in his throat too large to get words around.

Drawing out the first syllable, Ellie started to move towards the door, “Ooooo-kay then. I think I’m going to go. We’re meeting at seven and I still look like this.” She grabbed at her knit sweater, the one Nick loved—it made him want to cuddle her up and never let go—and made a face of disgust.

Jimmy waved goodbye as Ellie backed out of the sliding autopsy doors, but Nick remained unmoving, staring straight ahead.

Jimmy’s hand hesitated in midair as he took in Nick’s emotionless face. Slowly he moved the same hand back and forth to break through Nick’s trance. “Earth to Nick...you good?”

Snapping out of it, Nick refocused on Jimmy, “Wh- what? Yeah, yeah I’m good.” Nick paused, “No, that’s a lie. I’m not good Palmer.”

A knowing look appeared on his face before he spoke, “it’s Tony and Ziva all over again, isn’t it?”

Nick feeling slightly baffled replied, “Tony and Ziva?”

“You know, what we talked about the other day. Rule 12?” Jimmy rolled his wrist as if that spoke for him.

Nick made the decision to just get out the confused feelings inside him, he needed a sounding board and honestly Palmer might be the best option. “I just don’t want to look at my life ten years down the line and regret the decisions I made, Palmer. I don’t want to have denied myself from something amazing because I was scared of the fallout.” Nick hesitated before continuing, “But it’s not just me. And it is me. And I know, I know that sounds ridiculous, but that’s just it. I don’t know  _how_ to do this, Jimmy. I don’t know how to be the best partner, and Jimmy,” Nick paused to look him dead in the eye, hoping to convey his point, “She deserves the fucking best.”

Jimmy’s knowing look never wavered. “Look, Nick. When I said that the other day, it was purposeful. I lived through the anguish of Tony and Ziva dancing around each other, and look where they are now. Rule 12 may say never date a coworker, and that- that I believe holds true. What Rule 12 does  _not_ say is never  _love_ a coworker. I said you all have zero chemistry to get you thinking, honestly, to light a fire under you if you two were meant to be.” Jimmy broke his serious expression for a quick chuckle, “And if I’m being one hundred percent honest, it was a little bit of payback for that pig thing, man. That was not cool.” His tone turning deadly serious at the end. Nick saw the moment Jimmy flipped back to the heart of the matter, “Nick, no one knows how to  _do_ love. That’s the beauty of it. Two imperfect people come together and work to create a perfect love for them. Key word, work. It’s not a switch you flip, it’s not a gene you inherit. It takes effort, it takes forgiveness, it takes dedication. And if it’s meant to be, Nick, you’re both the best for each other.”

Nick was speechless, this quirky autopsy gremlin had rendered him speechless. And at the same time, it was just what he needed.

Jimmy wasn’t done, “So...if you’re not breaking Rule 12, go tell Bishop how you feel, man. She’ll never get to decide if you’re her best if you don’t give her the chance.”

With a firm nod, Nick lifted off from his spot leaning on the empty autopsy table and headed to the elevator. Head down, deep in thought he stepped on and hit the button to ascend.  _What was he going to say to Ellie?_

Still wrapped up in the possibilities, he stepped out of the elevator without looking... and right into a warm, soft body. Instinctively his hands flew up to grasp the upper arms of whoever he just ran into to keep them from falling. Lifting his head, he came face to face with a shocked Ellie. Mouth slightly agape, eyes wide and hair disheveled, he’d never seen her prettier. Errantly he noted she was still wearing the same sweater as earlier,  _she hadn’t changed yet, why?_

Nick said the first thing that came to mind, “What are you still doing here?” And it came out much ruder than expected.

Ellie, taken aback, threw up her defenses. Vulnerable look to her eyes gone, she stated firmly, “I forgot a file downstairs, and I was going to grab it. Is that okay with you?” The sarcasm dripping off her words was palpable.

Nick still hadn’t released her arms and wasn’t about to now. No more beating around the bush. “Don’t go out with Richard.”

Ellie tried to shake him off in response, “Niiiick, I thought we talked about this. Stop being overprotective, I can date who I want to date.”

“Look me in the eye and tell me you truly want to date Richard,” Nick challenged her.

Ellie stopped wiggling to break free and looking Nick dead in the eye. Their breaths mingled together at how close they were. He could see her chest rise and fall, a small nervous swallow travel down her throat, her pupils start to dilate as they took in the unspoken emotion in his own eyes. He hoped everything he wished to convey with words reflected in the way he looked at her.

When she said nothing, Nick continued. “I’m not being overprotective.” Ellie opened her mouth like she wanted to protest, but Nick released one of her arms to lay a finger to her soft lips. They pursed in slight annoyance underneath his fingertips. He repeated himself, “I’m not being overprotective, no- that’s not what you call it. At least that’s not what I would call it. Deciding you want a family after years of thinking you’d be a terrible father all from a few nights of babysitting, what’s that called? Cancelling your partner’s date and destroying the evidence, what’s the word for that? Being torn in half because all your worst nightmares were confirmed with a simple accusation by your partner, why’s that? Writing a personal note in your most vulnerable state to someone special, is there a term for that? Living with a constant fear that the greatest thing to ever happen to you might die before you get the chance to tell her how to feel, how to you describe that?”

Ellie was silent, eyes wide and brimming with many emotions. He saw fear, he saw hesitation, he saw hope, and he saw relief.Now what he really needed to see, was love.

Nick moved his finger from her lips and went on before Ellie could formulate a response, “Ellie I wasn’t overprotective, I was jealous. And I was jealous because I love you and that- that terrifies me a little bit. I don’t know how to love. You deserve the world, but I’m not sure I’ll be able to give you that. You deserve the best, and I know I’m not—“

She found her voice as she interrupted, “Nick, don’t you get it? You are the world to me. You are the best for me.”

“But—“

“No there’s no but’s. You think I know  _how_ to love? Look at my track record! I do not have this figured out. No one does. If I’ve learned anything, it’s that all we need is you and me and real love, the rest will come.” Ellie sounded so sure, so confident, and it helped soothe Nick’s worries.

“The rest will come...but what if- what if we don’t like-“ Nick’s eyes cast downwards in a show of vulnerability, “have, you know, chemistry?” He voices one of his biggest fears. One that both Abby and Jimmy has confirmed before, even if Jimmy said he was messing with him—Nick didn’t  _really _ believe it. All the science nerds saw it, and they know things about chemistry, right?

It was Ellie’s turn to look Nick sternly in the eye as she used a gentle finger to tip his chin upwards, moving that hand to cup the nape of his neck. “Nick, do you feel it? Can you feel this? Me? Because I- I can’t breathe. I can’t breathe when I’m with you, I can’t breathe when I think about you. I can’t breathe when you look at me. This- us- we are living proof that you don’t need ‘chemistry’ to love. Because I sure as hell love you, Nicholas Torres, and if you don’t kiss me right now, I might just combust.”

Nick’s heart exploded as he wasted no time giving the woman he loved what she wanted. And he’d happily do that over and over again if it meant kissing Eleanor Bishop for the rest of his life. 


End file.
